Confusion in the Tunnel: A user's guide to an engineering triumph and a disaster in public relations and public planning

When will the Channel tunnel open?

As the folk from Eurotunnel now say: 'When it is ready.' They have had their fingers burnt making promises that they have not been able to keep, and the pounds 10bn tunnel is now more than a year late on its target date of May 1993.

There are essentially four different types of service and they will all open at different times. The most likely scenario goes something like this: the official opening by the Queen and President Mitterrand is on Friday, 6 May, but that is only because it was fixed a very long time ago. If Eurotunnel is lucky, it will be able to start running very limited Le Shuttle services for freight between Folkestone and Calais through the 50-kilometre tunnel in the week before the official opening. A week or so later British Rail should be able to start running freight services through it from various places in Britain to European towns as far afield as Barcelona, Milan and Cologne. If there are further mishaps, neither freight service will start until mid-May.

But what about the passengers?

Again, there are two very distinct services: Le Shuttle, which will take cars through the tunnel between Folkestone and Calais, and Eurostar trains, a high-quality passenger-only service which will link London with Paris and Brussels.

Eurotunnel executives have effectively abandoned hopes of running a proper 'turn up and go' Le Shuttle service before the autumn because of delays in testing and commissioning the tunnel. There will, however, be a few Le Shuttle trains running this summer, mainly for special groups which have written in asking to go through.

The Eurostar trains, run by European Passenger Services, currently a BR subsidiary but due to be sold later, will start a limited service probably in July. Before that, it will run occasional 'souvenir' services, again for people who have expressed an interest. Eventually there will be 15 Eurostar return trips to each capital by next year. The trip to Paris will take about three hours and to Brussels 15 minutes more.

Why have there been all these delays?

Actually, all the emphasis on the delays is a bit unfair. The project was enormously ambitious and represents a considerable feat of engineering. We have all been rather too carping, and, if Britain were in a more self-confident mood, the tunnel would be trumpeted as one of the great engineering achievements of the century.

In fact, the timetable, demanded by the banks, which are funding this entirely private-sector project and wanted to see it completed within six years, was unrealistic.

Only six months was allowed for commissioning the tunnel and the trains, which was always an impossible target, given that even BR takes about a year to bring into service a new model after the first trainset has been delivered; it has years of experience in introducing trains, while Eurotunnel is rather short of experienced railway professionals.

All the different sorts of train that are going to use the tunnel, both Le Shuttle and Eurostar, are completely new, built to extremely onerous - sometimes excessively high - safety standards, and have all been delivered late.

Indeed, the safety standards that the tunnel has to meet are incredibly high and extra precautions were added at a late stage. Every procedure has to be tested. Each time a test fails or is only partly successful, it has to be re-scheduled, causing more delay.

While no one suggests that the tunnel should not be safe, Eurotunnel points out, with some justification, that similar operations in tunnels in the Alps have been running safely for decades without serious incident but with far less stringent safety requirements.

Eurotunnel was always under pressure from its investors and the banks to give target dates for opening. Now, however, with the opening only weeks away, it is refusing to provide any further dates to avoid giving any more hostages to fortune until the company is absolutely sure it can meet them.

Will it be expensive to go through the tunnel?

Fares for this summer's Le Shuttle were announced before the latest delay and are almost the same as those for the ferries, ranging from pounds 310 return at peak summer times for a car and any number of passengers down to pounds 220 in the winter. Many travel experts, however, suggest that there will be a price war next year when Eurotunnel is able to offer its full service of four trains per hour in each direction. Unlike ferries, there will be no reservations for Eurotunnel. On the Eurostar trains, EPS intends to undercut the airlines, and it will have a very complicated range of fares depending on the time and day of travel. It is thought to be considering pounds 70 to pounds 80 return for London to Paris or Brussels as its lowest off-peak fare, while business travellers wanting to go at peak times are likely to have to pay the same as an airline ticket, around pounds 200 return.

What will it be like going through the tunnel?

The Le Shuttle service for cars and their passengers - and from next year coaches - is extremely spartan. You will be expected to drive on yourself and travel through with your car in a compartment containing up to five cars. There will be no access to food or refreshments but there is a toilet in every third carriage and passengers will be allowed to get out of their cars to stretch their legs. It is supposed to take 35 minutes from platform to platform but this depends on the driving skill of the 30 motorists in front or behind you]

The Eurostar trains, in contrast, are a luxury ride, especially for those in first class who will get a meal served at their table.

Will tunnel trains serve elsewhere

in Britain? At first there will be services only from London Waterloo but, from the latter half of 1995, EPS will gradually introduce night services from Scotland, the North-west, South Wales and the West Country to Paris and Brussels. There will also be trains from London to Amsterdam and Dortmund/Frankfurt.

What about the Channel

tunnel rail link? I am not a futurologist so it is impossible to be exact. However, the Government does seem now to be determined to get it built. Moreover, although originally it was supposed to be privately funded, the Government, embarrassed by the fact that the French have completed their high-speed line between Paris and the tunnel, is now prepared to put more than pounds 1bn towards the pounds 3bn cost, including throwing in the profits from the Eurostar services to the lucky bidder.

The 68-mile link which will run from London St Pancras to the tunnel will be completed by the year 2002 at the earliest. However, given the delays associated with all aspects of the Channel Tunnel, don't put money on it.

Until the link is built, the Eurostar trains will travel from Waterloo at a maximum spped of 100mph along the Network SouthEast commuter lines in Kent, which have been upgraded, but are still chock-a-block with old slam-door stock that may well break down in front, causing delays. Congestion will also prevent Eurostar from running a sufficient number of trains in the evening peak hours when many people will want to travel to Europe.

Eurotunnel, Business, page 1

(Photograph omitted)